Cops Accused of Accepting Bribes will Hope to Rely on De Blasio Ruling

Cops Accused of Accepting Bribes will Hope to Rely on De Blasio Ruling

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Written by Natasha Spyer

Created: April 05, 2017

NYPD cops that are accused of providing favors in exchange for bribes are preparing to appear in court soon to present a motion to dismiss their cases. According to the New York Post, the accused will use the same US Supreme Court case that was used to exonerate New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and that will be used in similar corruption cases involving state politicians such as Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos.

The FBI has been investigating the relationship between several NYPD officials like Corrections officer union president Norman Seabrook and former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks and well-placed businessmen Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz. The Feds discovered the presence of shady dealings between the men when they wiretapped a dinner that between the aforementioned parties. Their investigation of what they found led them to interrogate 20 cops-including three deputy chiefs and the Head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct according to the New York Post. Specifically, the Feds probed the suspects over gifts and trips that were given to the officers in exchange for favors. The probe also involved a conspiracy between the NYPD officials to purchase and resell liquor at discounted prices in order to generate a profit for themselves.

Last Friday, when the officer's case was first heard in Manhattan federal Court, the lawyer for NYPD chief Michael Harrington cited the Supreme Court ruling that deemed that accepting gifts in exchange for favors on “an as-need basis” no longer strictly constituted bribery.

Andrew Weinstein, Harrington’s lawyer, argued that the Feds needed to prove a “quid pro quo of something concrete” according to the New York Post.

Perhaps more concretely, another attorney for the disgraced cops, Marc Fernich argued that “amorphous” favors not directly tied to a gift no longer counted as bribes.

Harrington and James Grant, his alleged accomplice have been accused of accepting trips abroad and home renovations among other things from real-estate investor Jona Rechnitz and his businessman friend Jeremy Reichberg.

In exchange for these pleasantries, and fixing the businessman’s tickets, the NYPD cops and their cronies received free escort services courtesy of their executive friends.

In the famous McDonnell decision cited by a team of the cops team of defense attorneys, in this case, the Supreme Court justices ruled that there was no hard proof had not provided “official acts” in exchange for nearly $165,000 that he received in loans and gifts according to the Post.

By: Natasha Spyer

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